mercy ; like Absalom, who, as soon as Da- vid had kissed him, and taken h'un into fa- vour, j)lotted treason against l)im, 2 Sam. XV. 10. Like the mule, wlio kicks the dam after she hath given it milk, van partusum, 2 Sam. xvi. 17., " Is this thy kindness to thy friend?" God may upbraid the sinn(M-: I have given thee (may God say) tliy liealth, strength, and estate, — tliou requitest me evil for good, thou woundest me with my own mercies, — is this thy kindness to thy friend ? Did I give thee life to sin ? Did I give thee wages to serve the devil ?
5. Sin is a disease, Isa. i. 5., " The whole head is sick ;" some are sick of pride, others of lust, others of envy. Sin hath distem- pered the intellectual part, it is a leprosy in the head, it hath poisoned the vitals, Tit. i. 15., " Their conscience is defiled." It is with a sinner as with a sick patient, his palate is distempered, the sweetest things taste bitter to him. The word wliich is ' sweeter than the honey-comb,' Isa. v. 20., tastes bitter to him ; they ' put sweet for bitter.' This is a disease, and nothing can cure this disease but the blood of the Phy- sician.
6. Sin is an irrational thing ; it makes a man act not only wickedly, but foolishly. It is absurd and irrational to prefer the lesser before the greater, — the pleasures of life, before the rivers of pleasures at God's right-hand for evermore. Is it not irra- tional to lose heaven for the satisfying or indulging of lust? As Lysimachus who, for a draught of water lost a kingdom. Is it not irrational to gi'atify an enemy ? In sin we do so. Wlien lust or rash anger burns in the soul, Satan warms himself at this fire. Men's sins feast the devil.
7. Sin is a painful thing : its costs men much labour in pursuing their sins. How do men tire themselves in doing the devil's drudgery? Jer. ix. 5., " They weary them- selves to commit iniquity." What pains did Judas take to brin<r about his treason? lie goes to the high priest, and then after to tlie band of soldiers, and then back again to the garden. St. Chrysostom saith, " Vir- tue is easier than vice." It is more pains to some to follow their sins, than to others to w()rship their God. While the sinner travails with his sin, in sorrow he brings
forth ; it is called ' serving divers lusts,' Tit. iii. 3. Not enj'ot/, but serve: W])y so? because not only of tlie slavery in sin, but the hard labour; it is 'serving divers lusts.' Many a man goes to hell in the sweat of his brow.
8. Sin is the only thing CJod hath an an- tipathy against. God doth not hate a man because he is poor, or despised in the world, you do not hate your friend because lie is sick ; but that which draws forth the keen- ness of God's hatred, is sin, Jer. xliv, 4., " O do not this abominable thing which I hate." And sure, if the sinner dies under God's hatred, he cannot be admitted into the celestial mansions. Will God let him live with him whom he hates? God will ncA'er lay a viper in his bosom. The feathers of the eagle will not mix with the feathers of tlie other fowls; God will not mix and in- corporate with a sinner. Till sin be re- moved, there is no coming where God is,
3d. See the evil of sin, in the price paid for it ; it cost the blood of God to expiate it. " O man (saith St. Austin) consider the greatness of thy sin, by the greatness of the price paid for sin." All the princes on earth, or angels in heaven, could not satisfy for sin ; only Christ. Nay, Christ's active obedience was not enough to make atone- ment for sin, but he must suffer upon the cross ; for, " without shedding of blood is no remission," Ileb. ix. 22. O what an accursed thing is sin that Christ should die for it ! Tiie evil of sin is not so much seen in that one thousand are damned for it, as that Christ died for it.
4M. Sin is evil in the effects of it. 1. Sin hath degraded us of our honour Reuben by incest lost his dignity ; and though he were the first-born, he could not excel. Gen. xlix. 4. God made us in his own image, a little lower than the angels; hut sin hath debased us. Before Adam sinned, he was like an herald that hath liis coat of arms upon him; all reverence liiin, because he carries the king's coat of arms ; but let this coat be pulled off, and he is desjiised, no man regards him. Sin hath done this, it hath plucked off our coat of innocency, and now it hatli debased us, and turned our glory into shame: Dan. xi. 21., " And in his estate shall stiuid up a
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vile person." This was spoken of Antio- chus Epiphanes, who was a king, and liis name signifies ' illustrious ;' yet sin liatli degraded him, he was a vile person.